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“Liberty. Beautiful, dynamic, take-your-breath-away Liberty.” Corbin smiled sardonically. “From the moment I saw her, I was a goner. I followed her around like a little lost puppy. I wrote her poems. I brought her flowers. Our senior year, when I finally got up enough nerve to ask her out and she said yes, I thought I had won the fuckin’ lottery.”
He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You want to know what those good people did to me, Jesse? They pulled the twin switch. Instead of Liberty, I got Belle. All because Liberty had started going steady with the quarterback of another high school. Rather than just be honest, they thought I wouldn’t notice the difference. But I noticed. I played along with their hurtful little game, but I knew. And I never forgot.”
Jesse now understood why Corbin seemed to have a vendetta against the Holidays. Having been a kid with crappy parents, he knew how you envied the kids who had a big loving family who came to all their games and activities to cheer them on. Jesse had eventually gotten to be one of those kids. He had gotten the big loving family who came to all his school functions and activities and cheered him on.
Corbin hadn’t.
All he’d had was the dream. The dream that included the same girl Jesse dreamed of. He didn’t want to believe Liberty had talked Belle into the twin switch, but it sounded like something a teenage kid would do. Jesse had done plenty of dumb things as a teenager that he later regretted. Still, once again, he wondered why Liberty hadn’t told him. Maybe she didn’t think it had been a big deal.
“They were teenage girls, Corbin,” he said. “Teenage girls do things like that. You can’t hold that against them and punish them by taking their family’s ranch.”
“I’m not punishing them, Jess. I’m over what Liberty and Belle Holiday did to me.”
“Then let Rome pay off the loan and buy another ranch.”
“I don’t want another ranch. I want the ranch Sunny dreamed about living on. Uncle Dan only took us out to the Holiday Ranch with him a few times before he was fired, but that was enough for Sunny to fall in love with it. Every picture she drew after that was of the house and the barn and the oak with the swing. I want her to have her dream.”
Jesse stared at him. “At the cost of taking it away from the little old woman who had the same dream?”
Corbin shrugged. “The Holidays made their bed, Jesse. I didn’t force Mimi to sign the contract.”
As Jesse studied his brother, the truth dawned. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? You knew the ranch was in financial trouble and you had Oleander Investments give Hank a way to consolidate all his loans, knowing he wouldn’t be able to pay you back.”
“Isn’t that what you taught me, big brother? Figure out when the odds are in your favor and go in for the kill?”
That was exactly what Jesse had taught him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Damn it, Corbin. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why would I? You’ve never cared how I run the business. Now suddenly you’ve fallen in love with the Holidays and want to put them before your own family.”
That stung. And pissed him off. He got to his feet. “I’m not putting them before my own family. I’ll buy you and Sunny a damn ranch that’s just as nice, if not nicer. Just leave the Holidays’ ranch alone!”
“What’s going on?”
The question had Jesse turning to the door of the bedroom. A young woman stood there. He had seen pictures. But seeing pictures of his half sister and actually seeing her in person were two different things. While he and Corbin looked nothing alike, he and Sunny looked like paternal twins. Same strawberry-blond hair. Same freckles. Same soft brown eyes.
Eyes that lit up.
“Jesse?” She charged across the room and dove into his arms. “I always wanted another brother!”
Chapter Seventeen
All through supper, Liberty watched the clock on the stove and listened for the rumbling sound of Jesse’s truck. She knew the rest of her family was doing the same thing. Mama, Mimi, Daddy, Cloe, and Sweetie barely spoke as they ate the tater tot casserole Mama had made for supper. It was Decker and Rome who kept the conversation going.
“Ms. Peterson got a new Mini Cooper,” Decker said as he watched Sweetie pick at her food with a concerned look. “Today was the third time in two weeks that I had to pull her over for speeding. I hated to give my favorite librarian a ticket, but I’d already given her two warnings. Still, Melba gave me a thorough scolding when I got back to the office about Ms. Peterson just needing to sow a little wild oats after her husband left her.”
“You’re lucky Melba just gave you a scolding, instead of one of her foster pets. She came by today with a pudgy pug that she tried to pawn off on us.” Rome dished up some more casserole. But instead of putting it on his plate, he put it on Cloe’s. “Remember you’re eating for two, honey.”
Cloe shook her head. “Thank you, but I’m just not hungry.”
Liberty wasn’t hungry either. She was scared, but she couldn’t help trying to calm her family’s fears. “Jesse is going to get everything figured out. He’s probably on his way back here to tell us the good news as I speak.”
But when they’d finished eating and all the dishes were cleaned and put away, Daddy had had enough waiting around. He grabbed his hat off the rack by the door. “I’m heading to Corbin’s to see what the hell is going on.”
“No, Daddy,” Sweetie said. “We need to give Jesse more time.”
“I agree,” Mama said. “Maybe they went to the Hellhole and just lost track of the time. How many times have you been late for, or completely missed, supper, Hank, because you ran into a friend at Bobby’s? Jesse hasn’t seen his friend for a while. I’m sure they have a lot to catch up on.”
“I’m sure that’s it,” Cloe agreed. “Jesse just hasn’t been able to get away. If he doesn’t make it tonight, I’m sure he’ll be here bright and early in the morning.” She got up from the couch. “We better get going, Rome.”
